110 lines
8 KiB
Plaintext
110 lines
8 KiB
Plaintext
<figure>
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<img src="https://f000.backblazeb2.com/file/bsag-blog-imgs/corne%5Fboth%5Fhalves.jpeg"/>
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</figure>
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<p>I managed to build my own keyboard!</p>
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<h3 id="the-backstory">The backstory</h3>
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<p>As you may know, I’ve been using an <a href="https://www.rousette.org.uk/archives/ergodox-ez-keyboard/">ErgoDox EZ</a> keyboard for a while now, and I
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have come to love both the ortholinear split layout of the keys and the ability to
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completely customise the key layout. They recently also enabled you to set up a
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layer to work with the open source stenography software called <a href="http://plover.stenoknight.com">Plover</a>. This was
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fabulous, and I have been playing with learning stenography using this layer.
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I’m sure I’ll be writing much more about this at a later date, but — briefly — stenography
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requires you to hit multiple keys together (like a chord on a piano) in order to
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output words phonetically. This means that it is easier to do if your keys are close
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together and don’t require too much force to press, otherwise your fingers are
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effectively bench-pressing a couple of kilograms every paragraph! Since my
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ErgoDox has hot-swappable keyswitches, I did a little experimentation, buying
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some Gateron Clear switches (linear, 35g switches). They definitely solved the
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force problem, and I was surprised to find how much I enjoyed typing on them for
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ordinary typing. As an aside, I think my love for the Happy Hacking Keyboard
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switches made me think that I could only love tactile switches, but now I think
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that they have their own special properties, and that I generally prefer linear
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switches.</p>
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<p>Going down a bit of a rabbit hole while on holiday (as I am prone to doing), I started looking
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around to see if there might be some low-profile keyboards with key
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arrangements which might be better for stenography so that I could play with it
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further. Luckily, stenography requires very few keys, and I quickly found the
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<a href="https://github.com/foostan/crkbd">Corne or crkbd</a> keyboard, which is split, ortholinear, and has a layout well
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suited to stenography (as well as conventional QWERTY layouts). You can buy them
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assembled from various places, but it is much cheaper to buy a kit or components
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and make your own. This obviously requires soldering. I had never so much as
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picked up a soldering iron before this point, but I had always wanted to learn.
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As another aside, one of the consequences of coming out the other side of the
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menopause seems to be that I am much less worried about failure. I feel much
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more confident about trying things, even if they might be a bit challenging, and
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I might crash and burn. Perhaps I worry less about what other people think. I’m
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finding this new state of mind hugely enjoyable (which is good, because going
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<em>through</em> the menopause was hell, physically and mentally, so it’s nice to find
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something positive on the other side). So, why not learn how to solder and go
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for it?</p>
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<h3 id="the-practice-project">The practice project</h3>
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<p>I was feeling confident, but I didn’t want to waste money or get frustrated by
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going straight into a complex/more expensive project like building a keyboard. Instead (after
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watching a lot of YouTube videos of soldering tutorials, and buying a £15
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basic soldering kit), I got <a href="https://thepihut.com/products/adafruit-conways-game-of-life-kit">this cheap kit</a> to build a little game demonstrating
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Conway’s Game of Life. It was fun to put together, and I was amazed when it
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<a href="https://micro.rousette.org.uk/2021/08/24/guess-who-taught.html">worked first time</a>.</p>
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<p>I enjoyed the soldering a lot, and since I had already succeeded in the kinds of
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techniques I would need to build the keyboard (like ‘through-the-hole’
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soldering), I had the confidence I needed to go ahead with the bigger project,
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without worrying that I would mess it up completely.</p>
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<h3 id="the-corne-keyboard">The Corne keyboard</h3>
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<p>After getting hold of all the components I needed, I got stuck in. There are a
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lot of ‘build logs’ out there where people document what they have done and problems
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they have encountered, so I had a reasonable idea about where the difficult
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spots might be. I took my time, trying not to spend too long soldering in one
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stretch, because it’s when you get tired that you tend to make mistakes (as I
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have found repeatedly while sewing).</p>
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<p>I used a Corne Light v2.0 PCB, which enables you to use a wide variety of
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switches, but doesn’t support LCD lighting or hotswap sockets for the key
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switches. Both of those would be nice to have, but doing without them made the
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project much simpler and cheaper. I did however choose to use two OLED displays
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and two Elite C micro-controllers (which are USB C) rather than the standard Pro
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Micro controllers which are micro USB. I went for Kailh Choc Blue
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switches, which are low-profile 25g linear switches. The case is a simple FR4
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plate case, and the keycaps are <a href="https://keycapsss.com/keyboard-parts/keycaps/169/mbk-choc-low-profile-blank-keycaps">MBK Choc low profile key caps</a>.</p>
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<figure>
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<img src="https://f000.backblazeb2.com/file/bsag-blog-imgs/corne%5Fswitches.jpeg"/>
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</figure>
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<p>The whole thing went remarkably smoothly. I decided to socket the micro
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controllers and the OLED units so that I could remove and replace them if they
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went wrong, or if I wanted to salvage them for another project. I was a bit
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worried about doing this for the OLEDs: they had header pins already soldered
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on, which meant doing some desoldering, which I hadn’t practised. Again, it
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turned out to be a bit easier than I feared, so I was able to make longer header
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pins from the diode legs I had already trimmed, and plug it into the socket
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header I soldered in to the board.</p>
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<p>Once you have the diodes, the controllers, and the reset switches and TRRS jacks
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soldered, you can try shorting out the sockets of each of the keyswitches in
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turn to make sure everything is connected up properly. I was holding my breath
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for this step, but it was a great feeling when all the keys reported back
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properly. From there, all I needed to do was insert all the keyswitches and
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solder them, then assemble the case and keycaps and try it all out.</p>
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<figure>
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<img src="https://f000.backblazeb2.com/file/bsag-blog-imgs/corne%5Fdiodes%5Fcontrollers.jpeg"/>
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</figure>
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<h3 id="the-end-result">The end result</h3>
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<p>I’m so happy with the end result. The keyboard feels comically tiny compared the
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ErgoDox, but with the reduced number of keys, every key is only one unit away
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from your fingers on the home row. They Kailh Chocs feel lovely, and the whole
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thing has a solid and good quality feel. It has probably taken me longer to
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wrestle with <a href="https://docs.qmk.fm/#/">QMK</a> to get the layout right (and the Plover stenography layer
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working) than it did to physically build the keyboard, but having done so, I am
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really enjoying typing on it.</p>
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<figure>
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<img src="https://f000.backblazeb2.com/file/bsag-blog-imgs/corne%5Fright%5Fhalf.jpeg"/>
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</figure>
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<p>When using QWERTY, it takes a little while to get used to the fact that there is
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no number row, so you need to use one of the layers to enter numbers and
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use function keys. However, once you have adjusted to this, it is no more
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inconvenient than using a shift key, and means that you can arrange characters
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wherever feels most ergonomic. I have learned from using the ErgoDox what
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arrangement of symbols etc. works best for me, so that influenced my choices
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heavily. I thought I would miss all those extra keys, but
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actually it doesn’t feel limiting.</p>
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<p>Now that I have got my Plover layer working, it is a joy to be practising
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stenography on this board. The finger placement and the lighter keys make it
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much easier to type the chords needed accurately. For some sounds, you need to
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press several adjacent keys with one finger, and that’s much more comfortable on
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this board. I’ve got it set up so that I can activate the Plover layer from my
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‘Adjust’ layer, then exit Plover back to QWERTY by pressing another key.</p> |